Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mounting system for assembling components which are brought to mounting stations on a workpiece carrier of a conveyor system. Each mounting station has a frame, and wherein a long stroke unit raises components in lift-like fashion and brings them in position to the selected mounting station.
In such known mounting systems for performing mounting, testing or machining operations on components, the workpiece carriers, disposed on the conveyor belt of the conveyor system that is responsible for conveying in the horizontal direction are raised, together with the components resting on them, in lift-like fashion to the work position of the mounting station with the aid of the long stroke unit. Raising the workpiece carrier has the advantage that the mounting apparatus, such as screwing units, need not be moved.
Since the workpiece carrier is also raised, the long stroke unit is disposed between two longitudinally extending conveyor belt profiles of the conveyor system and as a rule is secured to a cross strut of the frame of the mounting station. As a consequence, an undesirably large free space must be provided between the floor and the conveyor system, to allow for the elements of the long stroke unit. Another disadvantage is considered to be that the elements of the long stroke unit are disposed on a cross strut of the frame, and consequently the frame, long stroke unit and conveyor belt form a unit. The mounting of these three component groups can therefore be done only jointly, and for delivery to the usage site, they must be disconnected again, so that complicated and expensive re-erection must be done on site.
An apparatus is known that has a workpiece carrier movable along a production line from Published, Non-Prosecuted German Patent Application DE 40 15 702 A1. However, that reference provides no long stroke device for lift-like raising of components.
For transferring workpiece carriers to conveyor systems of different height, transfer stations are known from German Patent DE 19 500 148 C1.
German Examined, Published Patent Application 1 288 505 shows a workpiece carrier that can be raised in its entirety together with the workpiece.